Ferme du buisson CENTRE D ART CONTEMPORAIN Muster ohne Wert / Samples of no value / Echantillons sans valeur Exhibition Dates 20 Feb - 2 May 2010 Opening Sat 20 Feb at 5pm Free shuttle from Paris-Bastille at 4pm Centre d art contemporain de la Ferme du Buisson Allée de la Ferme Noisiel 77448 Marne-la-Vallée cedex 2 Tel. 01 64 62 77 77 www.lafermedubuisson.com
2 The Art Centre has invited German artist Wolf von Kries to present what will be his first solo exhibition in France. This will consist of new and existing works, and will give the public an opportunity to discover a wide array of works by this artist. Von Kries does not limit himself to one medium, but navigates freely between sculptures, installations, video and photography, blurring the lines that exist between works of art and everyday objects. A tireless walker, he likes to explore faraway lands as well as his immediate surroundings, as if the world was a text to decipher. In this aim, he follows a near-scientific approach - collecting objects, observing phenomena, conducting experiments, establishing comparisons. His work turns the ordinary into the extraordinary through a specific process that is both material and mysteriously poetic. Nothing is wasted, nothing is created, but everything is transformed and reconfigured. Von Kries uses existing objects and situations - such as a molten bit of concrete, the concentric circles left by the rain on the pavement, the creaking doors of his childhood then alters them in order to create unexpected scenarios. With very limited means, he unveils fortuitous encounters, hidden meanings, spatial relations and formal correspondence. All these random and unorthodox connections are to be discovered or extended by the audience. For the Ferme du Buisson, the artist makes use of the history of the place and its links with the Menier industrial empire as a prism through which to investigate the concepts of value and progress. Seemingly trivial objects are his starting point, from which he imagines utopian models, such as a giant inner tube covered with a starry constellation of repair patches, a geodesic structure made of daily papers, a mirrored pyramid of sugar lumps, a collection of food cans from all over the world with identical expiry dates, etc. The exhibition therefore indirectly evokes the current economic situation, while developing an intentional poetry of the makeshift and the amateurish as a way to create parallel universes. Julie Pellegrin
3 Wolf von Kries Born in Berlin (Germany). Lives and works in Berlin. www.wolfvonkries.de 2010 Visite ma Tente (Berlin), Casting Centre Européen d Actions Artistiques et Contemporaines (Strasbourg, France), En Presence Backfabrik (Berlin), Mirrors 2009 Autocenter (Berlin), Collaborations Forgotten Bar Project, Galerie im Regierungsviertel (Berlin), Catch Of The Day Loop (Berlin), Material Evidence *Platform (Vasa, Finland), Schattenspiele 2008 *TÄT (Berlin), May Day Fondation d Entreprise Ricard (Paris, France), Phoenix vs. Babylon Peter Lav Photo Gallery (Copenhagen, Denmark), If You Give Me the Mountains I Will Ask for the Sea *Platform (Vasa, Finland), Avaruus Lakana *MB Prospects (Berlin), White Noise (Schnee) Sparwasser HQ (Berlin), Freunde und Bekannte Ferme de Buisson (Marne-La-Vallée, France), ZappingUnit Mains d'œuvres (Paris, France), Mieux vaut être un virus que tomber malade 2007 Kunsthalle Exnergasse (Vienna, Austria), Quantity as Quality Ssamzie Space (Seoul, Corea), Double Space Galerie Mikael Andersen (Berlin), High Lights Parc Saint Léger Centre d art contemporain (Pougues-les-Eaux, France), Le Syndrome de Broadway *La Planck / galerie Air de Paris (Paris, France), Broad Way Poliflur (Berlin), 01/01 Galerie Mikael Andersen, (Copenhagen), Accessories 2006 Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt, Germany), Anonymous Le Commissariat (Paris), Sans Conservateurs Ssamzie Space (Seoul, Corea), Blurring Spaces La Box (Bourges, France), Prefixes Brix (Berlin) 5th Berlin Biennale 2005 Sparwasser HQ (Berlin), Dying to Make a Living Espace Paul Ricard (Paris), Au-delà du Copan Berlin Alexanderplatz (Berlin), Urban Art Stories Korridor (Berlin), Failures 2004 Space without a Roof (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Nothing in particular II Cube-Espace multimédia (Paris, France), Beijing dezoned Paris Wiensowski Harbord (Berlin), Hansi Hinterseer Espace Paul Ricard (Paris, France), made in China, designed in France Nuit Blanche (Paris, France), Dazibao *solo exhibition
4 Container, 2007 Plastic bag, water 35 x 30 x 5 cm
5 Pyramid, 2008 Sugar, mirror 30 x 30 x 10 cm
6 Descent into Matter, 2006 Wood, plywood, chip boards, plastic bag, trash 80 x 80 x 100 cm
7 White Noise, 2008 Billboard advertisement, confetti 245 x 365 cm
8 Kreise (May Day), 2008 Video, canned food Variables dimensions
9 Géométrie élastique, 2008 Woodboard, rubber bands 50 x 50 cm
10 Galaxy II, 2008 Discarded inner tube of a tractor, patches Diameter 250 cm
11 Stasny s invention, 2008 Tin of wax, styrofoam 20 x 26 cm
12 The Centre d art contemporain de la Ferme du Buisson Part of the multidisciplinary project of La Ferme du Buisson, the Centre d Art contemporain provides a space for experimentation, a laboratory for visual art. Focusing on an idea of art as experience and process more than object and product, our program tries to blur boundaries between the arts represented in La Ferme du Buisson (cinema, danse, theatre) and to reflects and challenges our physical, social and political surroudings. Through group and solo shows, performances and discussions, it mainly focuses on emerging artists but always in relation with other points of view (from artists of elder generation, philosophers, film-makers )
13 Coming exhibitions > Summer 2010 A Walk Around the Block > Winter 2010 Variations autour de Sol Lewitt Information Hours Wed, Sat, Sun 2-7pm And on appointment Admission free for children, members ans groups Tours Guided tours every Sat at 4pm Access from Paris RER A towards Marne-la-Vallée/Chessy, stop at Noisiel (20 min) Porte de Bercy, Motorway A4 towards Marne-la-Valée, Exit Noisiel-Torcy, then Noisiel- Luzard (15min) Contact Julie Pellegrin Director T. +33 (0)1 64 62 77 11 julie.pellegrin@lafermedubuisson.com Juliette Kaplan Communication coordinator T. +33 (0)1 64 62 77 05 juliette.kaplan@lafermedubuisson.com